Russia Stops Sharing Information On Missile Tests With US, Launches Nuclear Drills: Report

The termination of the missile test warnings marks yet another attempt by Russia to discourage the West from stepping up its support for Ukraine by pointing to Russia’s massive nuclear arsenal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

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New Delhi: Russia will no longer give advance notice about its missile tests to the United States, a senior Moscow diplomat said, as the Russian troops deployed mobile launchers in Siberia in a show of the country’s massive nuclear capability amid conflict with Ukraine, news agency AP reported.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow has halted all information exchanges with Washington after previously suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the US.

“There will be no notifications at all,” the minister said when asked if Moscow would also stop issuing notices about planned missile tests. “All notifications, all kinds of notifications, all activities under the treaty. will be suspended and will not be conducted regardless of what position the U.S. may take.”

Along with the data about the current state of the nuclear forces of the country routinely released every six months, in compliance with the treaty, the parties also have exchanged advance warnings about test launches.

Notably, these notices have been an essential element of strategic stability for decades, that has allowed Russia and the United States to correctly interpret each other’s moves and make sure that neither of the nations mistakes a test launch for a missile attack.

However, the termination of the missile test warnings marks yet another attempt by Russia to discourage the West from stepping up its support for Ukraine by pointing to Russia’s massive nuclear arsenal.

Notably, in recent days, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Moscow’s ally Belarus.

Earlier last month, President Putin suspended the New START treaty, stating that Russia can’t accept US. inspections of its nuclear sites under the agreement, at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.

Moscow stressed that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons that the treaty had set.